


down a peg

by thunderylee



Category: Japanese Actor RPF, NewS (Band)
Genre: Canon Universe, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-07-26
Updated: 2008-07-26
Packaged: 2019-02-05 05:14:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12787761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thunderylee/pseuds/thunderylee
Summary: Mao lets Tegoshi ask her out.





	down a peg

**Author's Note:**

> reposted from agck.

She sees him often, knows who he is. The little boy with the pretty face who grew up into the tall man with the pretty face. She’d have to be living under a rock not to know, all her friends are enamored by his voice, but Inoue Mao sees past the pretty and right to the center.

After all, she too knows how to play the game.

Since they don’t allow girls in the jimusho, she waits outside. Fixing her hair, listening to her Ipod, writing her memoirs. It’s a nice day, a day where she should be out _doing_ something instead of stalk- that is, visiting a friend of a friend of a friend.

She wouldn’t exactly call Matsumoto a friend, but that’s beside the point.

Just when she thinks about him, he shows up, eyeing her in amusement and opening his mouth to speak, but she hisses at him and he scatters away, probably to the safety of his bandmates. Mao’s heard stories about those Arashi guys.

After an hour, she frowns and thinks that she’s no good at this. She should have swiped his schedule from one of her friends who goes to Waseda and researched him on Wiki to see what projects he’s working on, if any. His group might even be off today.

Things usually work out in her favor, though, and as soon as she starts to doubt herself there he is strolling up the sidewalk, accompanied by a couple guys who are too pretty not to also be Johnnies and some girls who are unimportant.

“Tegoshi Yuya!” Mao screams, waving like crazy and jogging to catch up with them. “Tegoshi Yuya-kun!”

Tegoshi looks shocked, like his mother just found his porn stash, and steps away from the crowd like he’s ashamed to be seen with them.

“Inoue Mao-chan?” the taller one with the weird eyelids inquires. “What are you-”

Mao shoves past him, comes to a stop right in front of Tegoshi and gives him her best smile. “Tegoshi Yuya, I’m Inoue Mao. Nice to meet you.”

“I-I know who you are,” Tegoshi stammers, and after a smack from the normal-looking one with the bad fauxhawk bows his head. “Nice to meet you too.”

“Inoue-san, to what do we owe this honor?” fauxhawk kid asks, a little warily.

Good to know her reputation precedes her. She winks at him and notices the girls cowering in the background as she returns her attention to Tegoshi. “I’m going to let you ask me out.”

There’s a collective gasp, and Mao has to fight not to smirk.

“Me?” Tegoshi repeats, looking around like she’s speaking to someone behind him.

“ _Te-go-shi Yu-ya_ ,” she says clearly, knocking on his head for effect. “Don’t you want to go on a date with me?”

“Um…” Tegoshi glances towards fauxhawk kid, who shrugs and stands closer to the other one. “Yes?”

Mao folds her arms and taps her foot. “Aren’t you going to _ask_ me?”

Tegoshi blinks. “W-will you go out with me?”

“Where?” Mao asks, tilting her head.

“The-the-” Tegoshi turns around helplessly, and the taller guy is making a face like a fish. “The aquarium!” Tegoshi practically yells.

Mao feigns a yawn. “ _Boring_. Can’t we go somewhere fun?”

“Wherever you want to go,” Tegoshi says quickly. He catches on fast.

Tapping her chin in thought, she considers the possibilities until her face lights up. “You can take me to a nice ramen place, then treat me to karaoke, and we can end the night on the ferris wheel.”

“Okay!” Tegoshi’s nodding so fast that it looks like his head will fall off. “I’m free after six.”

Mao frowns. “Oh, that’s too late. I’ll be _starving_ by then. I guess we could do it another night -”

“No, no, no!” Tegoshi waves his hands, almost smacking one of the girls in the face. “I’ll talk to Leader and see if he will let me go early.” He pauses and bites his lip. “May I have your number to let you know for sure?”

“Give me yours,” Mao replies, pulling out her gem-studded phone with the pony charms. “I’ve got to get going. I have an important appointment in fifteen minutes.”

Her appointment was for a pedicure, but he doesn’t have to know that. She takes down his number and nods at everyone before turning to leave. “I’ll call you in an hour, okay? _Okay_ , Tegoshi Yuya?”

“Okay!” he calls out after her, grinning as his bandmates look a little impressed and the girls are scowling.

Mao has the decency to wait until she turns the corner before deleting the number and calling her friend to meet her for ramen. Since she was talking about it, now she really wants some.

As she continues on her way, she wonders if she should feel guilty for what she just did. It wasn’t like Tegoshi had done anything to _her_ directly to deserve being stood up, she was just tired of hearing about how amazing he was and how he can make anybody do anything for him. Personally, she thinks he’s a little narcissistic and could stand to be knocked off of the pedestal that everyone else holds him up on.

Besides, that’s _her_ job.


End file.
